


Mistake

by Superpennyable



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15589617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superpennyable/pseuds/Superpennyable
Summary: After constant back and forth with letters and junk mail and other things, the two Pierces decided to just mail the important things back to each other:  For Hawkeye, it was letters from his Dad and the paper he receives from home. The other Pierce just wanted his letters from his women.And it was going great for them both. Until he recived a letter he didnt know.





	Mistake

It’s been 3 months. Specifically, its been 3 months, 2 days, and around 5 hours that he has been receiving letters from an unknown person he barely know. The only information he has is the address, the name John McIntyre in large letters at the bottom of the address, and a name for the return: Cpt. Benjamin Pierce, MASH 4077, North Korea. The only thing on the letter that was correct was the last name. How the army screwed the rest of it up, he has no idea except that it's the Army and they have that kind of reputation of messing up things.

It's been sitting on his makeshift desk, unopened with multiple fingerprints from the many times he had made an attempt to open it, only for guilt to crawl into his mind when he gets so close to ripping open the seal of the envelope. It's been there for so long, that he wouldn't be surprised if it started coming to life before his eyes, walking and talking to him, getting married, having multiple kids…

Oh boy, this war is really taking a toll on his sanity. And his sleep.

He brings his hands to his face, rubbing his face in order to wake himself up. He is bored out of his mind. Everyone had went to the cafeteria to watch some movie that he’s seen a hundred times and was not about to suffer to watch it again. There was nothing to do- well there was one thing, but he was too tired to even get started with that, and even if he made any progress, that would make him even more tired than he already was! And sleep was the last thing he wanted to do right about now, so “relieving himself” was definitely out of the question.

So he was officially out of options, and the letter was tempting him to relieve him and take his mind off of the war for a while. Maybe just one letter….  
\--------------------------------------------------  
“Are you ok, Pierce?”

The man in question looked up in confusion, his mind far away to notice the arm on his shoulder and the concerned look his friend Spike was giving him. His eyes were tired and strained, he felt miserable and he felt like just laying down in tears from-

“Trapper…”

A guy he barely knows suffering in grief in his home thousands of miles away from here. And he feels the pain along with him. His twin was dead. Killed in action, probably while trying to save a life. That was Hawkeye: always putting others first before himself. He always had that impression from the many times they did meet.  
\--------------------------------------------------------  
Now the other Pierce has two options that was floating in his head: to go back to the 4077 ASAP and give these letters to the friend of the real pierce, or respond to the letters himself, keeping they guy from not going off the deep end over his friends death by posing as him.

His gut made him choose the second options, which worked for a while. Trapper started responding monthly and he sounded happier in the letters, telling him all about his family, wondering how life is over there, is certain people still around (which he honestly had no idea who some of them were, though there were some who definitely made a impact on his short visit) .

It was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't around here. Honestly, he didn't really get along with anyone around here, despite what he said to his name twin. Sure, he cracked jokes every once in a while, and he did spend his time playing cards with the other people and getting acquainted with the nurses, but it was only because he needed something to distract him from a place he really didn't have a choice to go to. With Trapper, he was a good friend that he could really talk to, spill his feeling out and have a good laugh with even if he’s almost thousands of miles away, and through bits and pieces of info he received every month, he understand how much Hawkeye really meant to this guy.

But he knew this couldn't last. Sooner or later, he had to tell his newfound friend the truth: that he was talking to the wrong person, and that he had the wrong address. And he was scared. What if he responds wrong? What if he thinks that means that his true friend is dead and gone, and it pushes him off the deep end where he founded him? What if he never forgive him? And what if returns the real letters to his name twin? Would Trapper respond? Or would he think it was Pierce? These questions passed through his mind for months, every time he writes something back to Trapper, lying to him.

And then one day, his army folks told everyone to bug out. There wasn't much detail expect that there was a planned attack and that they needed to get everyone to safety immediately. He packed up all that he could, but he couldn't bring all of the letters. So he grabbed a random few and ran out to the truck, hoping to return to the place. The ones he got was smudged, to the point that it looked like chicken scratch and scribbles. When it was safe to go back, he prayed hard that maybe, just maybe, it was a false alarm.

The campsite was nothing but black ash and scrapes of the tents that remained holed to the ground.

He had no way of communicating to him. His heart sank. The letters slipped from his grip and sailed all around the unrecognizable campground, away from his reach.  
\--------------------------------  
He laid back into his seat, closing his weary eyes. As of today, the war was over, then peace treaty was signed and everyone that didn't lose their lives were finally free to go home. He wasn't the same as he came, he lost a few things along the way, but he was grateful to make it in one piece. Physically anyway.

_And I can finally relax._

Or so he thought, until he felt another person flop down right next to him, reeking of alcohol. He opened his eyes and looked over to the shoulder.

His breath hitched. He’s wondering if the alcohol smell was coming from him, if he was seeing things.

"Well, well, if it isn't my long lost twin!"

But there he was. Living and breathing, and kind of smiling. He looked up and down. His “twin” looked thinner than when he first saw him, and his eyes has bags around them. He had drastically changed from the grinning guy that traded letters with him.

But haven't they both?

He gave a smile. They had a lot of catching up to do.

**Author's Note:**

> First long story i've written! WHOO!
> 
> I don't post as often on here (mostly because all my other work is on FF.Net and that's all offically being rewritten) but in the times that I do post on here, it will be my best.


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